3DARTDESIGN : Transforming metal waste into opportunity
Manufacturing company
PREMET
Hungary
Artist
Studio Nick Ervinck
Belgium
Technology Provider
Lasram Engineering Kft.
Hungary
Background
The Artistic Innovation by Titanium 3D Printing (3DARTDESIGN) project evolves around the so-called overused metal powder from medical implants.
Medical grade metal powder is considered a strategic raw material in the EU, being a resource that is hard to refine, and applicable in many industries. Therefore, recycling is considered of the highest importance.
PREMET, the manufacturer in this project, is a factory based in Hungary, which uses and recycles medical grade titanium metal powder various times until the powder is considered overused, meaning it cannot be used in medical purposes any longer. The main question then becomes, what to do with this material? This is the focus of the project, and the challenge of tech provider Lasram Engineering Kft and artist Studio Nick Ervinck.
The 3DARTDESIGN project will evolve around exploring possibilities for overused titanium through the development and introduction of a robotic station for post-processing by the tech provider Lasram Engineering, which will also open up opportunities for the artist to explore possibilities for the material simultaneously.
Challenges
- Shape-independent post-processing
- Multifinctional small-footprint robotic solution
- State-of-the-art software component integration
- Industry 4.0 alongside with outstripping production performance and repeatability
Expected impact
The expected outcome will be a series of objects which can be produced by the manufacturing SME in their factory to give value to titanium powder after it has lost its medical grade. Moreover, given that titanium is such a high-grade material, the artist will explore what else can be done with it, architecturally or otherwise.
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